ESA2013 Science Cafe Prize — call for submissions!

Aster, 125 Southeast Main Street, Minneapolis, MN 55414

Have you ever wanted to escape the conference center during the ESA Annual Meeting and talk science with the locals? This August at the 98^th Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, we are launching a Science Café – a chance to tell local pub-goers about your ecological passions in a casual environment.

Science Café puts you within arm’s reach of your audience. The venue encourages lively conversation, both during and after the presentation. You may, if you wish, use your beer as a pointer.

A Sip of Science

We will jump aboard the existing Sip of Science program, organized by the University of Minnesota’s National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics (NCESD) and hosted by the Aster Café, on the riverfront in Minneapolis.

Science Cafés have many styles and formats, from 10-minute rapid-fire panels of scientists speaking without notes to longer, in-depth presentations backed by slides and other props. Sip of Science does 40 minute powerpoint talks with plenty of time for questions and conversation, and we will be sticking with their format.

But just because there will be powerpoint doesn’t mean this is the same scientific talk you plan to present at your organized oral session. The trick to Science Café is to bring state of the art ecological ideas to a curious, non-specialist audience, translating from Standard Ecological English to a shared dialect.

ESA has many members who excel at speaking to the public, but rather than pick a known superstar, we wanted to open the floor to possible unknown talent. To choose a speaker, we have devised a contest that gives you the chance to showcase your work in words and pictures.

The winner will present at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, August 7^th. (You must register for the 2013 Annual Meeting to win.) ESA communications staff will stand the winner a single beverage of choice at the Aster.

We hope that you will submit a pitch for the Inaugural ESA2013 Science Café Prize. We hope that you will let loose your creativity. Most importantly, we hope that you will have fun.

Contest deadline: Sunday, June 23^rd, 2013

To encourage you to enter before the deadline, we are also holding a raffle for those who submit before Friday, June 21^st. Get your entry in early for a chance to win the ever popular “ecologists do it in the field” t-shirt.

Go to the Science Café Contest.

Special thanks to Barbara Heitkamp, Sip of Science organizer, and Paul Reopelle, manager at the Aster, for making this event possible.

Questions? Email Liza Lester, llester@nullesa.org or tweet @esa_org (before the deadline).